dSLR Dad

It is hard for me to believe that I’m still writing this post, even in March. The Nikon D3 is now in stock and shipping at Amazon (or the dSLR Dad Amazon Storefront). While your at it, why not pick up the fantastic Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G ED AF-S Nikkor Wide Angle Zoom Lens (available at Amazon and B&H Photo), shown on the camera. As always, these links help to support this site. Many thanks to all of you dSLR Dads who have done so. You have made it possible for me to start to make some real improvements to this site in the coming year. I greatly appreciate your support.

Of course, if you are going to buy it from Amazon, I highly recommend trying out the Amazon Prime service. You get a year’s worth of free 2-day shipping. Perfect for when you first buy a camera and don’t want to have to worry about getting everything in one shipment. As always, you have one month to evaluate the service before you fully commit to the $79 fee.

I have updated the main page of the dSLR Dad Amazon Store to list the top twenty items that you dSLR Dad’s have voted for to finish off 2007. That vote of course being with what is most important, your own wallets. On the first ten products listed on the storefront, there are the top-five books.

So what were the Books that made it to the top 5?

1. Understanding Shutter Speed: Creative Action and Low-Light Photography Beyond 1/125 Second by Bryan Peterson
2. The Digital Photography Book by Scott Kelby
3. Scott Kelby’s 7-Point System for Adobe Photoshop CS3 by Scott Kelby (more…)

Canon announced their new EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS lens back on August 20, 2007 along with new EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens (Amazon, B&H Photo). It is not yet shipping, but Klaus Schroiff over at PhotoZone.de has already picked up a sample for review.<

Technically the Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS is a tiny lens with a great performance potential. The resolution is very good across the range. Chromatic aberrations are basically a non-issue. The level of distortions remain moderate. The most obvious flaw is, unsurprisingly, vignetting at large apertures. The build quality is fine for a lens in this class and it is one step up from the EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS that we’ve seen here recently. Regarding the target market you may surely forgive the plastic mount. The AF (micro-) motor is pretty fast and silent. So’s everything cool here ? Well, the AF accuracy didn’t really convince in the field – specifically at the wide-end of the zoom range – but to be fair this is much better on an EOS 40D (e.g.) with its improved AF capabilities. I had some trouble with the image stabilizer in the field but according to early reader feedback this impression seems to be an exception to the rule. If so the EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS has certainly the potential to be another hot seller.

You can read the full review here.

40D Body only Price of $1,149

Happy Holidays everyone. Nikon ramps up production on the D300, and then all of a sudden, Canon lowers the price on the 40D. Right now, you can get the Canon EOS 40D for $1,149 at B&H Photo. That’s $150 off (more…)

It was out for a while, but Nikon’s new D300 with the Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR DX Zoom Lens is now back in stock at Amazon as a kit. A note of caution to you potential D300 dSLR Dads: the price seems to fluctuate wildly on this one (no matter where you shop). In fact, it has stayed at the expected street price of $1800 only briefly during the past month. Before you buy, make sure that the kit price is cheaper than buying the lens. (more…)

Is it better than the Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM Lens through the same range?

PhotoZone puts Canon’s latest entry level EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS lens (Amazon and B&H Photo) through the test, and the results are impressive for a kit lens:

The Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS is the next generation budget “kit” lens for Canon EOS APS-C DSLRs. It is a long awaited and, frankly, urgently needed successor for the rather mediocre EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II which was not able to convince anymore ever since the release of EOS 20D. However, Canon did not only improve the optical design – they also added an image stabilizer, changed the finish and introduced circular aperture blades for a better bokeh (out-of-focus blur). (more…)

The Nikon D300 dSLR has been out in the wild for some time (shipping now at Amazon). For all you dSLR Dad’s out there who are looking for one more bit of information to justify that purchase, here you go: (more…)

I love this site. If you have never visited PhotoZone, head over there now. They have posted their review of the new Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S Nikkor Zoom Lens (available at Amazon and B&H Photo). Nikon announced this lens earlier this fall along with the D3 and D300.

The Nikkor AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8G ED exceeds the already very good performance of its predecessor. The center quality is nothing short of outstanding matching or beating the resolution of a 10mp APS-C sensor. (more…)

Popular Photography Magazine has released their review of the new Nikon D300 dSLR (available at Amazon). Let’s just say that they liked it:

…But what (Nikon has) on the inside pushed the D300 to new performance records in the Pop Photo Lab:

• It’s the first DSLR to earn an Excellent image quality rating from ISO 200 all the way up to ISO 3200.
• It sports the fastest (and most sophisticated) AF we’ve tested so far. (more…)

Photoshop guru Scott Kelby has posted his review of the Nikon D300.

I’ve spent the past two weeks, many hours, had two meetings with Nikon Professional Services staff, and taken thousands of photos with my new Nikon D300 and I’m ready to spill the beans and let you know what’s hot (and what’s not) about Nikon’s new arrival. (more…)